New York State Teachers Retirement System Raises Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. $KMB

New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 260,008 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,579 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $33,520,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. First Pacific Financial purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 176.1% during the first quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the first quarter worth about $37,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.2%

KMB stock opened at $119.70 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $126.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $118.18 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 69.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KMB. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $149.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.00.

Kimberly-Clark Profile

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products in the United States. It operates through three segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, and K-C Professional. The company’s Personal Care segment offers disposable diapers, training and youth pants, swimpants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, reusable underwear, and other related products under the Huggies, Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers, GoodNites, DryNites, Sweety, Kotex, U by Kotex, Intimus, Thinx, Poise, Depend, Plenitud, Softex, and other brand names.